Zwei reports, die noch nicht lesbar sind kursieren: 1] A new World Bank report warns that the Palestinian Authority will not be able to achieve peace and economic recovery unless it gains control of the Gaza Strip, currently under the leadership of Hamas. 2] soll die Endstufe eines britischen Berichts fertig gestellt sein. Leider funktioniert der unten angegebene Link [noch] nicht.

Über die Teilnahme der Syrer am Truthahn-Treffen in Washington wird eifrig spekuliert. Schon ein wenig albern. Über Länder, die sowieso nicht teilnehmen wollen wird spekuliert, während Länder die teilnehmen wollen aus den Verhandlungen rausgehalten werden sollen und diplomatisch rausgeekelt werden. Zu den Aussichten liest sich: "This is a very important moment and we think that we can make some progress here," Assistant Secretary of State David Welch said. "For the first time here in quite some time I really do feel that there is an opportunity (and) with a little hard work - and that may take quite a bit of time - we can get it in a way that looks a little bit better." [für die Westbank-Siedler? Oder wen meint der?]

Hingegen redet einer besonders viel: Every effort should be made to stop Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, but, failing that, the world could live with a nuclear-armed government in Teheran, a recently retired commander of US forces in the Middle East said Monday. John Abizaid, the retired Army general who headed Central Command for nearly four years, said he was confident that if Iran should gain nuclear arms, the United States could deter it from using them. "Iran is not a suicide nation," he said. "I mean, they may have some people in charge that don't appear to be rational, but I doubt that the Iranians intend to attack us with a nuclear weapon." The Iranians are aware, he said, that the United States has a far superior military capability. "I believe that we have the power to deter Iran, should it become nuclear," he said, referring to the theory that Iran would not risk a catastrophic retaliatory strike by using a nuclear weapon against the United States. Dazu: Lack of ID data impedes UN sanctions against Iran